The initiative was discussed in the State Duma this week. The
sponsors of the bill suggest that it makes no distinction between
the actual action and simply a promise to help with passing
favorable decisions.

The main reason for such move is the growing number of cases in
which investigators have to classify bribery as fraud after it
turns out that the person extorting money for influence has no
powers to make the necessary decisions, the deputy head of the
Interior Ministry’s Economic Security Directorate told the
Vedomosti business daily. It is impossible to bring a tax
inspector to justice for bribery even when he is caught red
handed, because all decisions are made not by him but by the head
of the tax body, the official added.

According to current legislation the punishment for fraud is much
softer with a maximum prison term of 10 years instead of 15. The
maximum fine for fraud is 1 million roubles (under $30,000) and
fines for bribery are calculated by multiplying the demanded sums
of money and have no upper limits. The largest fine for bribery
in Russian history was imposed in December last year – Lev Lvov,
a former deputy head of district administration in the Moscow
Region, was sentenced to pay 950 million ($30 million) to the
state after a court found him guilty of extorting $1 million from
a real estate developer.

The police also hold that people who just pose as civil servants
and demand money for assistance should also be tried under the
proposed law. This provision, however, was opposed by the
Investigative Committee- the agency wants to distinguish real
fraud and suggests the draft is rewritten.

Prosecutors said the punishment for bribery and fraud should be
made equal to make evasion less profitable.

A representative of the United Russia parliamentary majority
party, Rafael Marshanin, told Vedomosti that the State Duma would
discuss the bill once the proposed corrections are made.

Fighting corruption is one of top priorities for Russian
authorities. In October last year President Vladimir Putin
chaired a session of the National Anti-Corruption Council and
criticized the existing legislation as too soft.

Putin called on officials to be tougher when countering
corruption in the courts and law enforcement bodies, saying that
when it happened it gravely undermined society’s trust in the
state in general. He also spoke specifically on the problem of
criminals evading punishment.“In the first half of this year
almost 700 people were convicted for taking bribes, 692 people to
be precise. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that
only 8 percent of the bribe-takers were sentenced to prison time,
the majority got away with fines that the criminals manage not to
pay by using various loopholes,” Putin noted.

“The practice shows us that the liberalization is not working
the way it should,” the President added.

A public opinion poll conducted in mid-2013 by the Levada center
showed that 30 percent of Russians consider corruption an
inevitable evil in the current political and economic system, 22
percent blamed the national Russian character, and 18 percent
said the authorities needed more control.